Chelsea is starting to take definitive shape under Thomas Tuchel, but there are still several areas remaining that haven’t been conclusively locked down.
A clean slate was offered to everyone when the German landed at Stamford Bridge’s front door.
Many who looked dowsed during Frank Lampard’s tenure where resurrected from their ruins and now play a regular part in Tuchel’s side.
Antonio Rudiger, Jorginho and Cesar Azpilicueta have become beneficiaries of this new overhaul.
The same can be said for Callum Hudson-Odoi and Andreas Christensen, the latter admittedly earning his stripes due to Thiago Silva’s injury.
Tuchel has also seemingly settled on a 3-4-2-1 formation and there are early indications he knows his favoured starting XI.
However, not every position is set in stone as a debate continues over which personnel should fill them.
No.10
After being dropped for Tuchel’s maiden fixture in charge, Mason Mount quickly established himself again as Chelsea’s most important presence.
He appears to have sealed his spot as one of the two no.10s deployed behind the striker.
Whoever is to feature in the opposite role is still undecided. Hakim Ziyech on paper looks ideal for this system, but the £100k-a-week (Sportrac) man hasn’t yet delivered.
His return from a short injury layoff against Barnsley midweek was highly underwhelming.
Because Chelsea own so many other attacking options in the zone Ziyech usually operates, the 27-year-old should fear for his regular inclusion.
Christian Pulisic and Kai Havertz are the two obvious candidates, whilst Hudson-Odoi has also been used when he’s not being used at wing-back.
Striker
Striker is another region of the pitch that’s up for discussion.
Timo Werner, Olivier Giroud, and Tammy Abraham have all lead the line for Tuchel, accumulating just one goal between them.
That singular strike came from Abraham in the cup versus Barnsley.
Plenty has been made of Chelsea’s need for a world-class forward. They haven’t quite discovered it yet with their current trio.
Centre-back
One of the centre back slots is also up for contention.
Rudiger, Azpilicueta, and Silva seemed the first-choice partnership up until the Brazilian’s injury away to Tottenham Hotspur earlier this month.
Christensen unexpectedly had to step in but covered for Silva brilliantly.
Kurt Zouma was decent upon his respective return after a period of absence, admittedly against lower league Barnsley.
Now that Chelsea are in the hunt for a new central defender this summer, this really is a dress rehearsal for any of the aforementioned names to keep their place at Chelsea.
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